Sweet and sour pork stir fry

On Tuesday night we had some sweet and sour pork stir fry leftovers that I had frozen last week.  The recipe is for two, but I doubled up the ingredients so that I would have enough left to freeze for a dinner at a future date when I was scarce on time.  I served my sweet and sour pork with rice both times.  The recipe was easy to make and extremely quick to prepare and cook.

Although the recipe has ingredients that are high in salt/sugar - the tomato ketchup, brown sugar and soy sauce - which I wouldn't normally give to my baby, I decided to give some to my son the first night I made it.  He loved it!  Since then I have had him at the Dr with a rash that turns out to be a food allergy and have had to cut all fruit from his diet, re-introducing one fruit at a time, so I was unable to give it to him on Tuesday night due to the pineapple in it.

Alterations
The biggest alteration that I made to the recipe has already been mentioned - I doubled up the ingredients to make enough for the freezer.  With regards to the pork strips, I used pork loins instead.  I had several in my freezer, so I cut two up into small strips and used these instead of going and buying pork strips.  This saved me money on my grocery shopping.  I didn't bother with the garnish of shredded spring onions and added all the spring onions that I used to the pan instead.  I added a little water to the pan to make extra sauce.

Cost
The pork loins cost me €2.  I bought the pineapple on offer for €1 and had it in the cupboard.  I used two peppers which were on offer for 79 cent each, making them €1.58.  I used a bunch of spring onions which cost another 79 cent.  I have allowed 50 cent for the tomato ketchup, soy sauce, oil, sugar, white wine vinegar and cornflour, all of which were in my cupboard already.  This means that the total cost of the stir fry was € 5.87 (excluding the rice). 

This did two nights dinners for 2 adults and 1 child (the baby only ate it once) and we had an extra portion leftover for lunch one day as well.  So the actual cost for me per meal was probably more around the €3 mark including the rice.

Spanish bean stew

For dinner tonight we had Spanish bean stew from the December 2010 pull-out in the GoodFood magazine (image below).  We will be having leftovers tomorrow night.

To save time I made the stew on Wednesday night after the kids went to bed.  So all I had to do this evening was re-heat the stew - making sure the chicken was heated through - and serve.  As I used a stock cube to make my chicken stock, this meal was unsuitable for the baby.  Instead of having the stew, he had leftovers from the leek and mackerel pasta bake.

This recipe is suitable for freezing and according to the recipe can be kept for up to 2 months in the freezer, making leftovers a handy meal to have on standby in the freezer.

Alterations
As with the stew I made on Saturday night, I had no chicken thighs for the Spanish bean stew, so I used 2 chicken breasts instead.  I actually meant to use 3, but lifted the wrong freezer bag out of the freezer!  Anyway, to compensate for the lack of chicken I put an extra couple of potatoes in to the pot.  Instead of using one tomato I used a tin of peeled plum tomatoes, breaking them up with the wooden spoon as they cooked.  I only had 150g of chorizo instead of 200g.  As well as a white onion I used a red onion - both were quite small.  I didn't bother with the parsley as I had none in.


Cost
The chicken breasts cost €2, the chorizo was €1.52, the beans were €1.09, the tomatoes were 67 cent, the red onion was 15 cent, the white onion was 6 cent and I have allowed 50 cent for the potatoes, olive oil and stock cube.  The total cost of the recipe was €5.99, making the cost per meal €3.

Next time I make it I will be adding an extra chicken breast - 2 just was not enough. This will increase the cost by an extra €1 for the whole recipe or 50 cent per meal.  I still think that is quite a reasonable price for a yummy dinner.

Leek and mackerel penne bake

Dinner tonight was leek and mackerel penne bake from the November 2009 issue of the GoodFood magazine (picture below from magazine).  I found the recipe really easy to follow and quick to make.  The whole family enjoyed it. 

According to GoodFood, the bake is perfect for midweek winter nights.  Given the weather we have been having lately I figured it was perfect for a midweek winter night in May 2012!

Most of the pasta bake recipes that I've come across have cheese in them.  My husband refuses to eat cheese or any sort (apparently it's slimy and they all taste the same - go figure!) so I was delighted when I came across this recipe for a pasta bake with no cheese in it. 

Don't forget to remove any bones you find in the mackerel - the recipe doesn't mention this, but it is especially important if you are going to be giving it to small children.

Alterations
The biggest alteration I made was that I used fusilli instead of penne.  I used slightly more pasta than the recipe calls for - 200g instead of 175g.  I used an extra leek and 3 smoked mackerel fillets.

Using the extra ingredients meant that I had enough to do dinner tonight, a lunch tomorrow and two dinners for the freezer for my baby.  I didn't give the baby any capers as I wasn't sure how these would go down.  My daughter ate one and was not impressed!!

Cost
It is difficult for me to work out the cost of the bake as I no longer have the receipt for the mackerel.  I got it in aldi and from memory it was around €1.70.  The leeks were €1.99, the pasta was 30 cent, the crème fraîche was €1.30 and I have allowed 50 cent for the butter, capers and breadcrumbs.  The total cost of the bake €5.79.

Smoky chicken and bean stew

On Saturday night we had the smoky chicken and bean stew from the September 2008 issue of Olive magazine.  I found the recipe on the GoodFood website and was attracted by the image (see below) of the stew.  After reading the list of ingredients I decided to make it for dinner. 

It was delicious!!  Especially the chunks of pepper - they were bursting with flavour.  Before he had even finished his my husband was asking me make it again sometime!  The recipe suggests serving the stew with wholemeal pittas, so I did.  We had two each.  I heated them in the toaster before serving them and we cut them into strips to use to soak up the juices.  It was really filling and we didn't need any more than the couple of pittas.

Alterations
I had difficulty getting the chicken thighs required for the recipe.  One of the bigger Marks and Spencers that I was in a few weeks ago had them, but when I went to my local Marks and Spencers there were none.  My local butcher doesn't sell them and I didn't see them anywhere else, so I ended up using two chicken breasts instead.

Instead of using borlotti beans I used kidney beans.  I already had kidney beans in the cupboard, so using them meant I didn't have to buy a can of borlotti beans. 

When I did my grocery shop in Dunnes they didn't have any coriander in stock, so I just left it out.  I only own hot chilli powder in my cupboard so I used it instead of the mild chilli powder and I added a little smoked paprika as well.

The recipe called for half a red pepper, but I used a whole red pepper instead.  Instead of using 1/2 a pack of chorizo I used 1/3.  This is because I need the rest for the recipe I am I making on Thursday night.  Plus, I felt there was enough meat in the recipe with the two chicken breasts.

Cost - The chicken breasts cost €2, the chorizo was 76 cent, the red pepper cost 50 cent, the red onion was 15 cent, kidney beans €1, the tomatoes cost 46 cent, the wholemeal pittas cost 47 cent and I have allowed another 30 cent for the olive oil, garlic cloves, stock cube and spices.  The total cost for this meal was €5.64.

My smoky chicken and bean stew - looking at this is making me hungry!

Turkey, thyme and leek meatloaf

One of the recipes on my menu planner for this week was the turkey, thyme and leek meatloaf from the December 2006 issue of the Good Food magazine.  This is another recipe that I have made quite a few times in the past, but I've never tried to work out how much it costs so I am interested in working out how much it costs.  Unfortunately I am not sure exactly how accurate my calculation of the cost will be as I bought the ingredients in Asda when I was visiting my parents house up north, but I think I will have a go anyway and convert the cost to Euro.

Turkey mince is not something that I have noticed for sale in my local shops, so if anyone reading this knows where I might be able to find some turkey mince I'd be grateful if you could point me in the right direction.  My local butcher doesn't sell it.  So, sometimes when I visit my parents I take a trip to Asda to buy some turkey mince specifically for this recipe.

I soften my leeks in a couple of squirts of fry lite instead of sunflower oil to lower the fat content and tend to use dried thyme instead of sprigs of fresh thyme.  Other than that I tend to stick closely to the recipe.  From previous experience I find that smoked bacon tastes a bit better on the top of the meatloaf than unsmoked.

The method of suggests putting the meatloaf under the grill to make the top crisp on top, however, I have found that it gets quite crispy in the oven so I've never bothered with this stage. 

The suggestion at the end of the recipe has tempted me a couple of the times in the past, but my husband has only recently started to eat butternut squash and cranberries so I haven't tried it yet.  I hope to try it sometime in the near future as I think the substitutions suggested sound delicious.

Cost - The turkey mince cost £1.98, the leeks cost £1 and the bacon was £1.  I had an egg, bread and dried thyme in and I've estimated 50p for them.  This brings the total cost to £4.48 which converts to €5.48 according the xe.com.  This feeds my family for two nights along with potatoes and vegetables.  This means that a meal for my family costs €4.20ish depending on what vegetables I serve.

Quick chicken chasseur

I have made this Quick chicken chasseur recipe from the good food magazine a number of times in the past but had forgotten about it until my husband requested it one day.  Previously we have had it with various different types of potatoes - mash, boiled and even chips - and rice.  To be honest, while I am sure it is supposed to be served with potatoes my family seem to prefer it when it comes with rice.  We had it for dinner last week, but I am only getting a chance to write about it now.

It is ready really quickly making it an ideal mid-week dinner to prepare when you get home from work and have to get something on the dinner table quickly.

The can of chopped tomatoes I used didn't have any garlic in them, so I added a couple of gloves of garlic at the start of cooking.  I usually don't bother adding the flour to the recipe and I use bacon medallions rather than streaky rashers in order to lower the fat content of the recipe.  I didn't have any fresh parsley in so I used some dried parsley and I added this towards the end of the cooking time.  When I made this for dinner last week I used two cans of chopped tomatoes instead of one.

Cost - Although I have made this recipe many times before, I have never worked out the cost of it so I am interested to see how much it works out as now.  As I was making it for two people and one child, I only used 2 chicken breasts and 3 bacon medallions.   The chicken breasts where bought on offer for €10 for 12, making the cost of the chicken that I used €1.67.  The bacon medallions were 75 cent - I bought them on offer for €1.50 a while ago and put them in the freezer.  The mushrooms were 99 cent, the chopped tomatoes cost €1.33 and I have allowed 50 cent for the garlic, dried parsley and beef stock cube.

The total cost of recipe €5.24.  As I indicated I only used two chicken breasts as I was only intending to serve two adult portions and one child's portion.  However, adding the extra can of chopped tomatoes bulked up the meal enough for me to be able to get extra portions from the pan for dinner another night, so I managed to get 4 adult and 2 child portions for this price, making the cost for me (minus the rice) €2.62 which is really good.  This works out much cheaper than using 4 chicken breasts to get the same number of servings.

TIP - As I am trying to give my baby as much of the same food as we are eating I refrain from adding the stock cube until the same point that I add the Worcestershire sauce so that I can give him a little of the chicken chasseur to try.  I then let the pan simmer for a few more minutes before lifting it off the heat and serving.

Chicken and chorizo jambalaya

Last night I made the chicken and chorizo jambalaya recipe from the April 2011 issue of the good food magazine. 

The recipe requires Cajun seasoning.  I didn't have any Cajun seasoning so I used a teaspoon of hot chilli powder instead.  It has a few of the ingredients used to make Cajun seasoning in it and was the closest possible substitute I had in my kitchen.  I found that the 350ml of chicken stock was not enough to make the rice tender and I had to add a bit more water to it as it was cooking.

Overall this was really easy to make and turned out really nice.  I feel that it took less time than the 55 minutes stated in the recipe to make and would be happy to make it during the week after getting home from work.  Next time I make it I'll add an extra pepper to increase the amount of vegetables being served.

TIP - This recipe is already low fat, but I decreased the amount of fat further by not adding the olive oil when cooking.  Instead, I cooked the chicken in a non-stick saute pan which is the only pan I had suitable for making the recipe as I don't own a frying pan with a lid. 

Cost - The two chicken breasts cost €2, the chorizo cost 75 cent, the red pepper was 95 cent, the can of peeled plum tomatoes was 67 cent, the rice was 30 cent, the onion was 28 cent and I am allowing 20 cent for the garlic, chilli powder and stock cube.  That makes the total cost of the recipe €5.15.  The recipe will easily serve 4 adults.  Leftovers would make a nice cold lunch with some salad leaves.